Ashley17

Wonder if we'll rest Ritchie for this. He's on 9 yellows and Brighton (followed by Huddersfield) is obviously a bigger game

Seemed fucked from the outset tonight to be honest.

Hubba hubba

I heard nothing of that from our fans like

Fucking hell, you know what I mean

Yeah had Bolton beaten Palace they were going to show Palace vs Man City instead of Man Utd/Wigan

Is it not just the FA refusing to sanction a change in date/kick off time after they had already been set?

He hadn't played a competitive game for 2 years, it was always going to be bleak. Anyway, the people of Oxford were very friendly pre-game, seems like a nice club frustrated by the owner being a bit dificult over the fourth stand. It looks pretty ridiculous having nothing behind one of the goals Oh and here's the pen, for no real reason other than the fan next to me who took it really well.

The difference between Rafa picking this team and the various other idiots picking a second string is that we made 5 clear cut chances and should have had the game won by half time. Pardew would have been clinging on for 0-0. He picked a team that should have been good enough to win the game, if players like Curtis Good aren't good enough against Oxford then I'm glad we found that out this way rather than paying him to do fuck all.

Just stopped at a services on the way back. Still 3 hours from home having watched us get beat 3-0 by League One Oxford. Magical days.

Something minor that pleased me today was leaving 2 men upfield when defending a corner, hate to see all 11 back in the box

You sit there pre and post game, you've got seats in the stands during the actual game. I see. Thanks. It's going to look mint if the camera is facing that stand. They'll all be licking the glass windows and the stand will be empty

Yeah, plenty time for him to improve but he's nowhere near ready yet. Him and Barlaser were basically healthy bodies to fill 2 spaces tonight, will do them no harm

Would have been ridiculous if we'd thrown that away, totally one way traffic for 70 minutes. I haven't seen it back but Ritchie went through one on one and tried to lift it over the keeper who handled it outside the box, at least it looked like he did but it wasn't given. Tiote managed to 2 footed tackle thin air and Gouffran was pretty good but was totally shagged by the end. From the young lads, El-Mhanni may as well have been picked from the crowd, doesn't seem to know what run to make and wasn't able to beat his man at all. Barlaser probably had less than 40 touches and Findlay was quite comfortable but Birmingham just let him have the ball. Shelvey is the man though, hopefully he stays out of trouble for the rest of the season

Mick Mc will get the blame/sack but that team is shite, I can't imagine they'll get any better unless they actually sign a goalscorer

Yeah, but if this meeting took place pre-Birmingham as suggested I don't think they had 5 appearances between them. Basically being paid for nothing, the Ashley nightmare

Murphy and Gamez are two of the elder players we signed and both have barely played. I think both will leave at the end of the season and we'll get very little for the pair of them. Ashley won't like that and wants to avoid any similar deals, at least I hope that's all it is

Going to be an interesting bench, when you think the three who got injured today will presumably be out, Sterry & Sammy are cup tied and no doubt some rotation. At least Shelvey and presumably Haidara are back Available players: Darlow Yedlin Clark Lascelles Haidara Colback Shelvey Ritchie Gouffran Perez Murphy Sels/Elliot Lazaar Hanley Dummett (Tiote) Do we have any decent youths not out on loan!?

Will at least free up a loan spot for them, they probably have other positions that need strengthening.

He used to be on here years ago, think he was t0m. Used to make canny compilation videos.

Still haven't recovered from that second half. So bad. We played a 5-3-2 with Haidara as the left sided centre back, Yedlin and Lazaar wing backs. Yedlin was pretty much the only attacking threat in the second half, often on a hiding to nothing as nobody can keep up with him. Then Ritchie came on and we went back to 4-4-Gouffran-1 with Anita at right back and Yedlin right midfield. Jutkiewicz should have won it for them twice, the first time he totally mistimed his jump and missed by a mile, the second time he missed by a cats pube. Hanley was probably our best player. Murphy won everything to begin with but that didn't last long. We started off pretty well, Tiote got over confident and they started to pressure him and Colback into mistakes, and of course we kept giving them free kicks around the box. After 5 minutes of us failing to learn our lesson and giving up possession in our own half they equalised. Sels then went into full on crisp packet hands mode and was atrocious from there on in. There was one in the second half where they put in a hopeless cross that bounced towards the far post. Anita was covering and there wasn't a Birmingham player within 10 yards, yet Sels decided to two handed slap it away. That was right in front of the away end, some fans were really getting at him from no more than 10 metres away. He's shite but that isn't going to help him. At least Shelvey will be back for the replay, hopefully Perez too. I don't think Perez has had a good season but he's like Pele compared to Gouffran. At one stage in the first half, Gouffran half heartedly chased down a long ball, dangled a token leg to take it round the keeper and got to the ball first, but neglected to pass or shoot from a tight angle with an open goal. Remarkable.

That was turgid, but at least we are in the hat. Keele services is delightful though

He came on against Fulham late on during one of our many mini meltdowns under Pardew (2-0 had become 2-1 and we were making hard work of it) so he came off the bench and absolutely fucking smashed somebody with a flying forearm

I wouldn't worry about him being back for Brighton, that match will almost certainly be re-arranged due to the FA cup. It's whether they want to get it out the way before the AFCON crew depart